Chapter 6
Siúil A Rún- Go my Love
A/N hey guys! I'm really excited and proud of myself for getting this chapter out so soon. I have a lot of great ideas for this story and I am really excited because it's finally going underway. I want to thank the reviewers/followers/favoriteers. Haha. This chapter title comes from a beautiful song (and one of my personal Irish folk love songs) from Lord of the Dance. If you haven't heard it, open a new tab, go to Youtube, watch it, then come back and finish the chapter. It's absolutely gorgeous so I had to put it in this story. Not only is it a stunning song, but the lyrics describe Spot and Aoife's relationship pretty well. But like Newsies, I do not own the song. (and I will have translations at the end authors note.) This chapter takes place after chapter 4 when Medda asks Aoife if she can sing. So read on and you'll find out!
"So, do ya, sing?"
Aoife practically burst out laughing at the absurd question. Could she sing? Yes. Does she sing for another person's entertainment? God no. but before she could explain herself, Nuala's voice cut her off surprising her.
"Of course she can! Why I remember back in Ireland she would sing all the time!"
Aoife stunned by her friends shout outs was subtly gesturing for her friend to be quiet, but either Nuala saw the slicing motion Aoife was making across her throat and ignored it, or she was too excited to notice her friend's frantic silent pleas.
"Well you'll just have to share your voice with us." Medda said turning to Aoife who quickly put her arm down to her side and flashed an innocent smile.
"I'm not sure Medda." She said. "I haven't sung since Liam and Nuala left, I'm probably not good anymore."
"Well it can't hurt to try." Nuala said encouragingly. "I remember when I was little you would sing me to sleep if I had a nightmare. Liam really like your voice to. So did our parents." She said the last part in a mere whisper.
Aoife remembered Emmett and Sorcha Conlon well. Her parents were good friends with them and they were also neighbors. Sorcha was like the mother Aoife never had, always allowing her into their home and treating her as if she was her own daughter. And then Sorcha died from a mysterious illness leaving Liam and Nuala motherless. The grief was so hard on their papy Emmett that he did, some say from a broken heart. And that is what caused Aoife's own father Eoghan to drink. Without his best friends he did not know what to do. And that is why Aoife left.
"I don't know." Aoife said. "I haven't sung in years! I'm probably no good anymore."
"Well you'll never know unless you try." Medda said.
Taking a deep sigh of defeat Aoife slowly stood up and walked into the middle of the room. Exhaling all of her air, then sucking it back in Aoife began to sing one of her favorite songs Sorcha taught her. At first she was quiet and had to take short paused to clear her throat, but by the second chorus, Aoife was singing to her fullest capacity pitch perfect, and full of spirit. When she finished, Medda and Nuala burst into fits of applause amazed of Aoife's voice.
"That was beautiful!" Medda exclaimed.
"You haven't lost your touch after all." Nuala said.
"Say," Medda started getting up from her seat and over to Aoife. "How would you like if, if I put you in my concert tomorrow night? You could come by early and I could do up your hair-oh its just so pretty- and I have the perfect dress you could wear-a perfect blue one-oh or the purple one- well we're just going to have to try them both-" and that was all it took for Medda to go on a tangent, leaving little room for air.
"Medda!" Aoife exclaimed causing the vaudeville star to stop talking! "What are you saying- what you want to put me in your show?" she finished with a laugh.
"That is exactly what I want." Medda said in all seriousness. "You have a beautiful voice, and if you sing that song, it would be perfect, just in time for St. Patrick's Day! Nothing would please a crowd more than seeing a real Irish rose singing a real Irish song."
"Oh please Aoife! Say you'll sing? You would look so beautiful on stage, and the boys would just love it-I know Liam would at least." Nuala said.
Aoife bowed her head and thought for a moment going through the pros and cons in her head. Ultimately the only con she thought of was just getting so nervous that she ultimately physically could not sing and standing there on a stage like an idiot, having all the newsies laughing at her. Including Liam. But then again, Liam could hear her sing once more.
"Okay. I'll do it."
~*~20 Minutes later~*~
"Medda I can't wear this!" Aoife exclaimed.
"But why you look so beautiful in it." Nuala pointed out, and taking one more glimpse in the mirror, Aoife knew she was right. After trying on three dresses already, Medda had an idea and went into her own special closet. From there she produced a dress that was a rich green shade. Made of smooth satin, the dress was the lowest cut than anything Aoife had ever worn. It hugged her in all of the right spots emphasizing her womanly curves. The skirt of the dress was full and gathered and flowed down the back. Elegant lace adjourned with sparkly beads laid over the stomach and bustle of the dress, shimmering whenever Aoife moved. It was beautiful, and she felt beautiful in it.
"Why of course you can! There would be no better dress to wear. Actually, you know now that I think of it, it's perfect. You want to know why?"
Aoife gave a nod and a look that told Medda to continue
"It was the same dress that I wore as my debut here."
Aoife smiled and walked over to Medda to give her a hug. After hearing a knock on the door, Aoife quickly rushed behind the fold out stand up separator in the room to change, Medda going along with her to help. Nuala went to open the door and found Spot, Jack, and the rest of the newsies that were at the meeting behind them standing in the doorway.
"Heya sis." Spot said. "Da meeting's ovea so we'se is gonna head back to Brooklyn now. Where's Aoife?"
"Behind here!" Aoife's voice shouted from deep inside the room. Spot shared a skeptical glance to his sister who explained to the newsies that Aoife was going to perform in a show tomorrow. The boy (now riled up at the news) hooted and yelled with excitement.
"Aoife's changing now." Nuala said. "But we can catch up to ya."
Spots eyes narraowed. "Star, ya know I don't like leaving youse anywhere. And I'm not about to let the two of yas walk all da way back to Brooklyn alone at night. So I'll have Ryder stay behind and walk ya home once youse is done."
Starlight smiled and hugged her brother, a bit annoyed at his overprotectiveness, but completely grateful that he cared so much about her.
"Thanks Spot."
Pretty soon the Manhattan newsies were all heading back to their lodging house and Brooklyn was heading back to theirs; all but one.
10 minuets later, Nuala, Aoife and Ryder were all walking side by side back to Brooklyn, unaware of the person lurking in the shadows following them.
"So Ryder, tell me about yourself. I know Spot told you about me, but I don't know anything about you." Aoife said.
"Well, there's not much to tell." He started. "I grew up in Northern Ireland working as a farmhand to my father. As soon as we saved up enough money, he and I got tickets to a boat that was sailing to America. Ever since me ma died when I was 8, he wanted to prove that life America would be so much better than in Ireland. Better job opportunities and things like that. It was his lifelong dream to come here, but he never made it."
"What happened?" Aoife asked curious as to whether or not she really wanted to know.
"He died halfway through the voyage, along with more than half of the passengers. You see, the ship had caught an incurable illness and my Pa was one of its victims." He paused to take a deep breath. "I was all alone, think and8 year old kid all alone in a foreign city."
Nuala lovingly looped her arm through one of his and rubbed her hand up and down along it in a comforting manner.
"And that is when I found Ace."
Aoife remember Ace was the leader of Brooklyn before Spot.
"He took me in as a newsie because no one else would hire an 8 year old Irish lad. A couple years later I met Spot and this lass." He said removing his arm from hers to wrap it around her shoulder. Nuala smiled and even in the dark, Aoife could see a faint blush creeping across Nuala's cheeks. "Been friends ever since." At the mention of the word friends, Nuala's new formed smile dropped. Aoife made a mental note to as her about that later.
"So, you sing do ya?" Ryder asked Aoife as they stepped onto the Brooklyn Bridge. Aoife nodded. "Are ya any good?"
"I guess you'll have to find out and come to the show tomorrow." She responded.
"Well, I'll see if I can make it. Spot gave me some extra special duties I'll have to do tomorrow."
"Oh what has my brother having you do now?" Nuala interrupted.
"Nothing you need to be concerning yourself over Starlight." He answered. "Just some business with Harlem. Spot wants me to find out if they are still our allies."
"Why would Spot want to know that?"
"Well just in case Queens gives us trouble. Spot was really riled up at our meeting today- but like I said, it's nothing for you to be worried about."
As the three of them continued to walk until they got off the bridge, they pursued onto the lodging house while the mysterious follower continued on through Brooklyn to Queens.
~*~Later that night in the girls room at the Brooklyn Lodging house~*~
The girls were all dressed and ready for bed when Aoife asked the question she had at the bridge.
"Do you like Ryder?"
"What- don't be ridiculous-I don't like Ryder why would you-is it that obvious?" Nuala asked after seeing the less than amused expression on Aoife's face catching her in the lie.
"Well yeah I guess I've always had a crush on him. He has always been so nice to me and, well I cant help it. But you heard what he said. Been friends ever since. Friends, nothing more."
"Well, maybe he feels the same way, but he's too shy to say anything. You should try to talk to him."
"Maybe, I don't know."
"Well, we'd better get to sleep, you heard Medda, she wants us there early to get ready for the show."
"Goodnight Aoife."
"Goodnight Starlight."
~*~ Somewhere in the slums of Queens ~*~
"Did you get what I was looking for?"
"Yeah boss, an I don' think youse is gonna like it."
"Well spit it you already, I don't have all night."
"I can feel it, Conlon is scared. He's sending his second to Harlem tomorrow to make sure that dey's is still on the same side."
"Excellent, we'll I'll make sure that he dosen't get back to relay the news to Spot."
"And dere's one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Dere was a goil dere."
"Ya mean his bratty sista?"
"No, dis one was new, I'd neva seen er before. But she looked like she had known Spot from da past. She's preformin tomrraw at Irving Hall"
"Good, I'll send someone ovea and find out as much of this goil as we can. She could be of use."
The conversation ended as the two newsies spit shook and went their separate ways one deeper into Queens, and the other to Brooklyn.
~*~ The next day: 12:30 Manhattan: Irving Hall~*~
After a meal provided graciously by Medda, Aoife started getting to work on her rehersal. Medda told her everything that was going to happen that evening in order. She was going to preform one of her acts, and as her grand finale, she would introduce her to the empty stage (save for a backdrop reminiscent to the rolling green hills or Ireland and a single spotlight) and the she would sing accompanied by a skilled harpist who was learning the music for that night.
When they had gone over the blocking and the song a few times, it was time for Aoife and Medda to start getting ready. Medda herself had already bathed earlier that morning, but she had another bath drawn for Aoife. When she was soaking in the tub, Medda did her own hair and makeup, and got ready to do Aoife's. as always she offered to do Nuala's but-as always- she politely declined and said wearing a skirt was bad enough let alone getting her hair and makeup done.
When Aoife was out of the tub and fastened I a light pink satin robe Medda went to work her magic. She had used a combination of rags and pins to carefully loop and set sections of Aoife's hair to form what was soon to be beautiful ringlet curls. While the curls were drying, Medda went onto her makeup. Keeping it natural but appropriate for the stage, Medda applied a fine soft powder to her face with a fluffy puff, creating a smooth surface and then some rouge faking a blush. Next she defined her eyes by lining them a bit with a charcoal pencil. Next she applied a coat of black mascara to Aoife's lashed making them longer and defined and lastly, she applied a red lipstick. Medda handed Aoife a mirror and stepped back to admire her handy work. When Aoife looked at herself she was in shock. Never in her life had she looked or felt so beautiful. But as Medda was taking out the rags I her hair and styling her hair into an intricate hairstyle on top of her head, Aoife couldn't help but to start beetling butterflies in her stomach.
Before she knew it 7:00 had come and the show started. Every minute that went by, Aoife started to feel more and more nervous. From the edge of the stage, she peeked out from the wings and to her horror, discovered all of the familiar faces from Brooklyn and Manhattan sitting in the first 2 rows as well as other newsies sitting in the balconies to the left and right of the stage. She felt a tap on her shoulder and whipped around to see Nuala.
"I just wanted to wish you luck." She said.
"Nuala, I can't do this. I cant go out there, look there sitting right in the front, there going to laught at me, I don't know why I ever agreed to this. And why am I wearing green- everyone knoes green is an unlucky color- I cant believe-"
But she was cut off my Nuala wrapping her arms around her in a gentle hug.
"Feicfidh tú a dhéanamh go hiontach." Nuala gently whispered to her. You'll do great. Oh she sure hoped so.
"Tá mé ag dul a bheith breoite." Aoife whispered back. I'm going to be sick.
As Medda finished her last note a rowdy commotion of applause came from the audience. As Medda got the crowd quite she spoke loud and clear.
"Now I have a special treat for you tonight, in honor of St. Patrick's Day in a few days, I have an early surprise for you. All the way from Ireland itself, please welcome to my stage for the very first time, Miss Aoife McCarthy!"
Nuala gently pushed her friend closer to the stage before whispering feicfidh tú a bheith breá to her friend.
I will be fine, I will be fine, I will be fine. Aoife kept repeating to herself as she walked onto the stage, receiving a wink from Medda as they passed each other. The applause that she received for her name had instantly died down as she stepped into the blinding spotlight. The crowd had grown quiet and she could even see some boys take their hats off and whisper to the guy next to them. But her eyes were focused on Liam. He was leaning on the edge of his seat, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. It wasn't until Ryder nudged his side that he regained his composure. She then saw Nuala slide into the seat next to Liam and she smiled kindly and encouragingly at her friend on stage. Then the harp strung up and Aoife took a deep breath and began to sing.
I wish I was on yonder hill
'Tis there I'd sit and cry my fill
'Til every tear would turn a mill
Siúil, siúil, siúil a rún
Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin
Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán
I'll sell my rod, I'll sell my reel
I'll sell my only spinning wheel
To buy my love a sword of steel
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I had y heart again
And vainly think I'd not complain
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán
Siúil, siúil, siúil a rún
Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin
Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom
Siúil, siúil, siúil a rún
Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin
Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom
As she sang her final note, there was seconds of silence, her voice echoing the theater before it erupted with applause, and whistled from the boys. Liam was the first boy to stand up, ferociously clapping his hands together. As Aoife bowed she make slight eye contact with him and then to Nuala who was cheering and shouting with everyone else.
She made her exit and almost fell because her knees were buckling so badly. Medda appeared in her dressing room to help get her undressed and un do her hair. After half an hour, Aoife went back to her normal self, her makeup still on and her hair a bit more curly than usual. She had on a white blouse and a grey high wasted skirt, similar to Nuala's brown one she was wearing.
"You were wonderful honey." Medda said producing a single red rose and giving it to Aoife. The two hugged and Medda escorted Aoife out where she was bombarded with the familiar faces of Brooklyn and Manhattan newsies. Shouts of compliments such as "that was amazing" and "you're a beautiful singer" rang through the air as Aoife tried to keep up with her compliments. She finally made her way to Nuala who hugger her and told her that she knew she could to it in their native language. And then she saw him. Liam was propped against a crate a single flower in his hands.
"You sang like an angel tonight." He told her. She smiled and embraced him in a long awaited hug. Never had she felt so many things that night, and love might have been one of them. With an arm draped around her shoulders, Spot led her to the group of boys her continued to congratulate and compliment her. Everyone was so distracted, that they didn't notice one individual sneak away from the group.
~*~ (Once again, somewhere in the slums of Queens)~*~
"What did you find out?"
"Da goil Aoife was her name, she can sing. But even more important, she and Conlon are close. We can definitely use her."
"Well done Echo. I'm more dan pleaded. Now I believe some threatening is in order hear." Blade said. As the two Queens newsies walked into the night 4 more joined them on the journey to Brooklyn.
A/N WHEWWW! Well this chapter only took me two hours to write and was 13 pages on my Word! Wow. Sorry it is posted so late, but I had some more St. Paddy's Day festivities to attend to, Irish soda bread was calling my name! But yeah this is my longest chapter and I must say I am very proud of it. And yea, Echo is the traitor (bet ya didn't see that coming. Well actually I don't know if you saw it coming). Oh and here is the translation for the chorus of the song: "go, go, go my love, go quietly and peacefully, go to the door and fly with me and may you go safely my darling." Well its late and I have class tomorrow so I going to turn in. please review, follow and favorite! Thanks for reading!